The present invention relates to a remote meter reading method and system of the type that may be polled by wireless communication. Contemporary remote reading systems require a periodic change of batteries used to supply the power to the communication and other systems used in the remote meters. The present invention mitigates this need by using the water and gas flow into homes or other buildings to generate power used to recharge those batteries.
Meter reading techniques have evolved substantially from days when the meter readers ventured into yards and alleys to visually record meter readings. In some cases, meters may have been inaccessible for many months. Whether accessible or not, such techniques were labor intensive and slow. Moreover, such techniques typically required procurement of various types of vehicles to support the meter reading process, each vehicle having requirements for gasoline, maintenance and insurance costs. The number of employees required to implement those services was substantial, with each employee again having requirements for salaries, insurance, health benefits, etc. Moreover, the availability of meter reading services was weather dependent.
More recently some utility meters have been provided with radio communication circuits that allow the utility to poll the usage information from a meter using a local communication system in a roaming utility vehicle.
However, where communication circuits and other electronic circuits, e.g. for data acquisitions, storage transfer, are introduced, they introduce associated power requirements which must be accounted for. Commonly, this is done by providing a battery in the meter, or associated equipment, which powers the communication and any other data processing circuitry, to enable their function, i.e., to communicate usage information from a meter addressed by the inquiry.
Consequently, while the use of wireless data collection and communication circuits associated with utility meters has served to avoid the need for service personnel to make periodic on-premises meter readings, it has introduced a requirement for periodic battery servicing, and replacement, albeit less often than prior meter reading requirements.
The present invention is directed a meter reading method and system that substantially further mitigates the need for servicing the utility meters by providing a battery recharging system that can be powered by a fluid flow being measured, e.g. water flow, or gas flow.
The present invention has application for monitoring individual meters, monitoring a plurality of meters associated with a common customer, and/or monitoring networks of many meters associated with different customers and/or accounts.
The present invention is particularly well suited for networks of multiple meters where the meters are disposed in relatively close relation, e.g. within two hundred feet or less.
The present invention also has substantially use in promoting consolidated billing services for multiple utilities, where the utilities are interconnected and polled in accordance with the present invention.